Life-preserver



EDWD. G. FITCH, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

LIFE-PRESERVER.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 4,699, dated August 18, 1846.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, EDWARD G. FITCH, of

the city of New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, have invented a new and useful machine for using as a clothing trunk when traveling or at other timesv and as a floating or swimming apparatus in the water when bathing or when forced into the water by shipwreck or Steamboat disaster, and which I call a passenger-trunk and life-preserver; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the con' struction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- I Figure 1 is a perspective view. Fig. 2, an elevation showing the concave side of the front half with brackets to hold the shifting top and bottom, similar brackets-are in the concave of the back part to match. Fig. 3, is an elevation showing the convex side of the back half. Fig. 4 is an elevation of the apparatus showing the right hand side. Fig. 5, is a horizontal plan of the tops. Fig. 6, shows the false or shifting bottom.

It is made of tin plates, sheet iron, copper, or zinc, consisting of two hollow vessels held together by a hinge at I, Fig. 1 in the accompanying drawing, each part is of a concave shape on one side and convex on the other, and so made as to fit the roundness of the body when it is put on. It is about 20 inches deep and 14 broad, the 2 vessels contain or displace about 2,000 cubic inches of water, the top and bottom of each half are of a crescent shape, the top being 6 or 8 inches broad at the center, the bottom may be a broad or a narrow crescent, each part is made water tight with a cover or lid on top (A Figs. 4 and 5,) to open and shut water-tight. When it is.used as a trunk the concave between the two parts has a false or shifting bottom, Fig. 6, placed in it and held to its place by brackets and hooks, a a Figs. 2, & 6, and the bar, b, Fig. 6, it has also a shifting top, A', Fig. 5 held by the brackets a a Fig. 2 and bar Fig. 5, shutting under the brackets f.

In using it as a life preserver it is fixed to the body, one part Fig. 2 before the breast, and the other Fig. 3 at the back of the person, the hinge I Fig. 1, joining the two together to be placed at the leftside. The two parts when placed together form an oval or ellipse shaped figure on the top, the long diameter of the oval being from front to back. There is an openin leftat the sides F F Fig. l, reaching rom the topy about one fourth or one third down for the arms to pass through. There are-straps tov lratus and is fastened with a buckle or otherwise near the right side, there is another strap H which is fastened to brackets on the concave side of the apparatus one endat f, Fig. 2, and which goes over the left shoulder to hold it up when putting it on, or the apparatus may be fastened to a coat or jacket with hook of tin or iron wire on the concave side, and both placed on the body together.

The principal characteristics of the passenger trunk and life preserver, is that it has the utility of the common traveling trunk for carrying clothing &c., and can be used in water as a floating apparatus to preserve a person from drowning, and will be capable of floating from 20 to 100 pounds, in addition to the person to whom it is attached, without being inconveniently large. A person putting it on to go into the water, opens the righthand side of it, takes the strap H Figs. 1, & 4, in his right hand, and places the apparatus to the left side, the left arm going under the strap H, and over the strap G Fig. 1, the strap H being placed on the shoulder the apparatus is held up by it and then closed around the body and the strap G buckled at L Fig. 4, either before or after going into the water.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of a life preserver and traveling trunk by constructing the same of two water tight apartments connected by hinges and straps, of such a size and shape that they will fit to the chest of a man and leave free play for his arms, and may be secured to him by the straps G and H, as herein set forth, when a buoyant life preserver may be required: the water tight apartments serving for receptacles for the money and most valuable parts of a travelers wardrobe, and the central apartment formed by the union of the water tight apartments by straps and hinges, with the temporary bot-tom (Fig. 6) and cover (A) serving for a receptacle for a carpet bag and for the least valuable parts of a vtravelers baggage.

EDWARD G. FITCH. Witnesses:

GUY C. HUMPHRIES, Z. C. RoBBlNs. 

